Electrical conductor having a high resistance to electromigration

ABSTRACT

THIS DISCLOSURE IS DIRECTED TO AN IMPROVED SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE, ELECTRICAL CONDUCTOR, THIN FILM CONDUCTOR, ALLOY AND FABRICATION METHODS THEREFOR. AN ALUMINUMOXIDE-COPPER ALLOY CONDUCTOR IS DISCLOSED WHICH HAS A HIGH RESISTANCE TO ELECTROMIGRATION AND HENCE, A CONDUCTOR LIFETIME GREATER BY AT LEAST A FACTOR OF 10 THAN UNALLOYED ALUMINUM CONDUCTORS. SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES UTILIZING THIS ALUMINUM ALLOY IN THE THIN FILM CONDUCTIVE STRIPES INTERCONNECTING DIFFERENT CONDUCTIVITY REGIONS OR DEVICES LOCATED IN THE SEMICONDUCTOR SUBSTRATE ARE SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED AND MORE RELIABLE.

July 3@, 1974 J, BHATT ETAL $826,626

ELECTRICAL CONDUCTOR HAVING A HIGH RESISTANCE TO ELECTROMIGRATION Original Filed Dec. 17, 1970 TRANSH STOW WE$ STOW INVENTORS HARSHAD J. BHATT JAMES W. TUTTLE BY m W United States Patent 3,826,626 ELECTRICAL CONDUCTOR HAVING A HIGH RESISTANCE T0 ELECTROMIGRATION Harshad .J. Bhatt and .James W. Tuttle, Wappingers Falls, N.Y., assignors to Cogar Corporation, Wappingers Falls, N.Y.

Original application Dec. 17, 1970, Ser. No. 99,036, now Patent No. 3,631,305. Divided and this application Oct. 1, 1971, Ser. No. 185,713

Int. Cl. H011) 1/02 U.S. Cl. 29--191.6 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure is directed to an improved semiconductor device, electrical conductor, thin film conductor, alloy and fabrication methods therefor. An aluminumoxide-copper alloy conductor is disclosed which has a high resistance to electromigration and hence, a conductor lifetime greater by at least a factor of 10 than unalloyed aluminum conductors. Semiconductor devices utilizing this aluminum alloy in the thin film conductive stripes interconnecting different conductivity regions or devices located in the semiconductor substrate are Significantly improved and more reliable.

This is a division of application Ser. No. 99,036, filed Dec. 17, 1970, now Pat. No. 3,631,305.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The invention relates generally to semiconductor devices, electrical conductors, thin film conductive stripes, alloys and fabrication methods therefor, and more particularly, relates to semiconductor devices having aluminum alloy thin film conductive stripes for interconnecting regions or devices in a monolithic integrated semiconductor structure.

Description of the Prior Art In the past, semiconductor devices made of silicon were fabricated using aluminum as the single metallurgy for interconnecting semiconductor regions or devices located in a single substrate. The technique used was to deposit, such as by evaporation, an aluminum thin film layer on an oxidized silicon substrate containing a plurality of regions of opposite type conductivity so as to permit interconnections of semiconductor devices defined by these regions of opposite type conductivity into a desired circuit. The use of aluminum as the thin film conductive stripe or inter-connection is considered highly desirable by silicon semiconductor device manufacturers because of the ability of aluminum to provide a good ohmic contact to N or P-type regions located in the silicon semiconductor substrate.

However, a serious reliability and lifetime problem was discovered using aluminum as the thin film conducting stripe material for silicon devices. Under certain conditions of temperature, current, and aluminum stripe geometry, the aluminum of the thin film conductor or stripe, migrated and, in a relatively short period of time, caused the formation of opens or voids in the thin film conductive stripe which resulted in the failure of both the devices and the electrical circuit defined by the devices. This problem became known as the aluminum electromigration problem and has bafiled and caused a great deal of concern to the silicon semiconductor device manufacturers. Some manufacturers, in an attempt to completely avoid the aluminum electromigration problem, decided to use other metallurgies than aluminum. However, the use of aluminum with its low cost, good conductivity, excellent ohmic contact features and known deposition process characteristics made it highly desir able for semiconductor device interconnection.

US. Pat. 3,474,530 is directed to the electromigration subject and provides background and prior art solutions for the aluminum electromigration problem. In this patent, one solution to increase the lifetime and reliability of a semiconductor device by means of improving the electromigration resistance of the stripe or conductor was to vary the geometry of the stripe. However, the increase in device or stripe lifetime that is achieved by changing stripe geometry is relatively insignificant and is only a minor solution to the aluminum electromigration problem. This prior art patent also infers that dopants may possibly improve aluminum electromigration; however, no specific dopants are suggested and no teaching is provided for improving the electromigration problem with any particular dopant.

In the IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, p. 1544, vol. 12, No. 10, March 1970, there is a reference to growing single crystal whiskers wherein it is mentioned that an alloy of aluminum and copper provides better resistance to electromigration than regular aluminum.

In the IBM Journal of Research and Development, p. 461, July 1970, an article entitled Reduction of Electromigration in Aluminum Films by Copper Doping by I. Ames et al., further elaborates on the advantages of doping aluminum with copper for increasing aluminum resistance to electromigration. However, the copper doped aluminum alloy is considered to be poor from a stress corrosion cracking standpoint. Furthermore, since copper is soluble in the solid solution of the aluminum-copper alloy, copper will precipitate out of the solid solution under certain chemical concentration and temperature cycling conditions thereby leaving regions of the conductive stripe devoid of the copper necessary to resist electromigration which results in stripe failure in these regions because of electromigration. Furthermore, since the aluminum-copper alloy has an even lower melting point than pure aluminum whose melting point is about 660 C., annealing operations after alloy deposition and formation have to be carefully controlled and restricted in both time and temperature. Additionally, in the fabrication of very high speed devices, it is necessary to use shallow diffused regions which may not be compatible with this alloy because of the greater penetration into silicon considered to be associated with metals that have relatively low melting points. Greater penetration into silicon creates undesirable shorting through shallow diffused regions.

Still further, the thin film aluminum-copper alloy may not provide sufiicient resistance to physical distortions and surface discontinuities known in the art as hillocks, depressions, pyramids, and whiskers which usually results in stripe failure. The penultimate paragraph of the above identified Ames et al. publication suggests that the same failure processes (preferential nucleation, void formation and hillock formation) are operative for both the undoped and copper doped aluminum stripes. This publication concludes that the copper doping act mainly to markedly retard the failure process rather than to alter the intrinsic nature of the basic aluminum stripe.

A copending patent application entitled Improved Semiconductor Device, Electrical Conductor and Fabrication Method Therefor, Ser. No. 40,635, filed May 26, 1970 in the name of Harshad J. Bhatt, one of the co-inventors of this application, and assigned to the same assignee of this invention is directed to an alternative solution to the electromigration problem wherein aluminum oxide (A1 0 is added to aluminum to produce an aluminum alloy film that overcome at least some of the problems associated with the aluminum-copper alloy system. Besides solving problems associated with the aluminum-copper alloy system, the aluminum-aluminum oxide alloy system provides a thin film metal that can be etched in a manner so as to produce very fine line definition thereby greatly enhancing device interconnection. Additionally, the aluminum-aluminum oxide alloy system has an activation energy of at least about 0.93 electron volts which is significantly higher than the activation energy of the aluminum-copper alloy system. The importance of an alloy system having a high activation energy is discussed in the above cited prior art patent.

The mechanism is not completely understood as to how copper doping helps aluminum resist electromigration. Each of these dopants may play a diiferent role in increasing aluminums resistance to electromigration. The addition of aluminum oxide to an aluminum-copper alloy greatly enhances the performance of the aluminum-copper alloy and minimizes the technical problems associated with the aluminum-copper alloy system. Both of these dopants are significantly different. Aluminum oxide is insoluble in aluminum whereas copper is soluble in aluminium. The use of the insoluble dopant in aluminum greatly enhances the aluminum alloys resistance to electromigration.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide improved semiconductor devices.

It is another object of this invention to provide an improved electrical conductor.

It is still another object of this invention to provide an improved thin film conductive stripe.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a new alloy.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a method for fabricating a semiconductor device with a stripe which is highly resistant to electromigration resistance.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In accordance with one embodiment of this invention, an electrical conductor is provided which comprises an aluminum alloy having a high resistance to electromigration. The aluminum alloy is composed of aluminum-oxidecopper (aluminum-aluminum oxide-copper). The aluminum oxide is in the range of from about 0.01 percent to about 17 percent of the aluminum alloy and the copper is in the range of from about 0.01 to about percent of the aluminum alloy with the remainder being aluminum. Preferably, the aluminum oxide is in the range of from about 2 percent to about 8 percent of the aluminum alloy and copper is preferably in the range of from about 2 to about 8 percent of the aluminum alloy with aluminum being the remainder. Optimumly, the aluminum alloy consists of 4% aluminum oxide, 4% copper with the remainder being aluminum.

In accordance with a further embodiment of this invention, a thin film conductive stripe and alloy is provided with an aluminum-aluminum oxide-copper alloy, as defined above, having a high resistance to electromigration.

In accordance with a still further embodiment of this invention, a semiconductor device is provided which comprises a semiconductor body having at least one region of one type conductivity. A thin film conductive stripe is in electrical contact to the one region of the semiconductor body. The stripe is composed of the aluminumaluminum oxide-copper alloy, as described above.

In accordance with still other embodiments of this invention, electrical conductors, thin film conductors, alloys and semiconductor devices are provided wherein the use is made of an aluminum alloy having a high resistance to electromigration which alloy utilizes a mixture of aluminum, soluble impurities (copper) and insoluble impurities (aluminum oxide).

Other embodiments of this invention are directed to the fabrication process for making the thin film aluminum-aluminum oxide-copper conductive stripe and semiconductor devices using the thin film aluminum-aluminum oxide-copper conductive stripe.

The foregoing, and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following, more particular description of the preferred embodi- 'ments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES FIG. 1 is a side elevational view, in section, of a transistor device located within a monolithic integrated circuit having the aluminum alloy conductive stripe of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view, in section, of a resistor device located within a monolithic integrated semiconductor structure having the aluminum alloy conductive stripe of this invention.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view, in section, of a field effect transistor (PET) device having the aluminum alloy conductive stripe in accordance with this invention.

FABRICATION METHOD A number of alternative methods can be used to fabricate the semiconductor device, electrical conductor or the thin film alloy stripe of this invention.

In one method, an evaporation technique is used wherein the desired aluminum-aluminum oxide-copper alloy is evaporated onto an oxidized surface located on a silicon semiconductor substrate. The manner in which this is achieved is to process the semiconductor substrate or body through a number of conventional process steps including epitaxy, diffusion, oxidation, photolithographic masking and etching operations prior to deposition of the aluminimum-aluminum oxide-copper alloy. The aluminumaluminum-aluminum oxide-copper alloy is evaporated onto the oxidized semiconductor substrate to form a conductive stripe thereon and to make electrical contact to regions of different conductivity type located in the semiconductor substrate. In the evaporation process by standard resistance heating (by RF heating, or by electron beam techniques) a single tungsten boat containing the desired percentages of an aluminum-copper alloy is heated up such as by resistance heating to evaporate off the aluminum-copper alloy. The bell jar or container in which the evaporation process is carried out is maintained at a pressure of 4x10" Torr. Air (as an oxygen source) or a mixture of Argon and oxygen gas is leaked into the system at a pressure of 8 10 Torr thereby providing a constant gage reading for the bell jar system of 8x10 Torr during metal deposition. Accordingly, the air or oxygen leaked into the evaporation system permitted an aluminum-aluminum oxide-copper alloy film to be deposited onto the oxidized semiconductor substrate. If desired, two tungsten boats can be used with one boat containing copper and the other aluminum. Oxygen (or air) is leaked into the system during the evaporation of both aluminum and copper from their respective boats.

Another evaporation method for depositing the aluminum-aluminum oxide-copper alloy is to use aluminum particles or powders coated with aluminum oxide which are available as standard commercial products from Reynolds Aluminum Co. and Metal Disintegrating Co. These particles or powders are placed into one evaporation boat for deposition, by resistance heating techniques, onto the suitably oxidized semiconductor substrate. Another boat containing copper is also heated by resistance heating techniques. This is a co-evaporation process using good vacuum conditions. The aluminum-aluminum oxide SA-P (Sintered Aluminum Powders) type material fit into the category of dispersion-strengthened alloys with the feature of having high mechanical strength at temperatures approaching the melting point of aluminum, which is about 660 C. The resulting deposited aluminum-aluminum oxide-copper film also has high mechanical strength.

Alternatively, a disc-shaped target or a barshaped configuration of the aluminum-aluminum oxide-copper alloy can be fabricated in the following manner: cold power compaction of the above described SAP-type materials with copper particles, vacuum sintering, hot pressure or compression, followed by a hot extruding step. In order to form the desired disc or bar shape, hot rolling is performed to transform the extruded rod to any desired thickness and shape for use in either evaporation or sputtering operations. In the evaporation operation, the disc is heated by resistance heating techniques to deposit the alloy.

Another form of deposition is to sputter the alloy rather than to evaporate it. In sputtering the alloy directly Onto an oxidized semiconductor substrate, either DC or RF sputtering techniques including reactive sputtering are utilized. Recently the trend has been to use techniques even in depositing metal films (besides dielectric films) onto a substrate because of the great degree of deposition control and uniformity of deposited film that is achieved by the RF sputtering process. Accordingly, a target electrode having a thickness of about 20 to 30 mils and a diameter of about 5" is fabricated in a disc form from an aluminum-aluminum oxide-copper alloy bar by the process techniques described above. This target electrode is placed into an RF sputtering apparatus and ionized. The ionized argon atoms are accelerated to strike the aluminum-aluminum oxide-copper particles to be sputtered otf the target electrode onto the anode which contains a number of semiconductor substrates. In this manner, the RF sputtered alloy film is deposited onto the semiconductor substrate to the desired thickness which is controlled by the usual time and deposition rate conditions. In RF reactive sputtering, argon and oxygen are introduced into the chamber and aluminum-copper is combined with oxygen from the plasma.

The aluminum-aluminum oxide-copper alloy is less corrosive than Al-Cu, can be heated to higher temperatures than Al-Cu Without destroying the film, will not penetrate into the silicon substrate as easily as Al-Cu, does not have the stress corrosion cracking weakness of Al-Cu, is more stable as an alloy than Al-Cu because aluminum oxide is an insoluble precipitate and will not precipitate out into the solid solution during temperature cycling whereas copper is soluble in aluminum and hence, precipitates out from the Al-Cu solid solution causing an unstable film to be formed. Hence, in the aluminum-aluminum oxide-copper alloy, at least aluminum oxide or copper is always present as a precipitate.

The aluminumaluminum oxide-copper alloy can be heat treated to higher temperatures than aluminum or Al-Cu without deterioration of the film. This is extremely critical in certain steps in the fabrication of semiconductor devices where heat treatment or annealing or sintering operations are desired. For example, in the fabrication of an FET device, it may be necessary to perform an annealing step subsequent to device formation so as to better control the surface characteristics of the channel region located between the source and drain regions of the device. In this operation, a heat treatment step is preferably carried out above 500 C. so to permit the formation of a stable channel region between the source and drain portions of the PET device. Since alumminum alone and aluminum-copper alloys begin to deteriorate, degrade or melt between 550-660 C. (with aluminum-copper having a lower melting temperature than aluminum) the use of either aluminum or aluminumcopper is undesirable Where 'heat treatments are to be carried out at close to melting point (Al) temperatures and/or for sustained periods of time for annealing purposes. The ability of the aluminum-aluminum oxide-copper conductive film to be heat treated and to remain stable at close to the aluminum melting point temperature is very significant to high speed semiconductor device manufacturers since it would permit these stripes or films to have normally lower penetration into the silicon substrate during any annealing or heat treatment steps in the semiconductor fabrication process. As a result, since the direction of the semiconductor industry is to use shallower diffusions that are necessary for very high speed devices to be fabricated, the importance of a thin film alloy which will not penetrate deeply into a shallow diffused semiconductor region and thereby short through the shallow region into another region of opposite type conductivity located behind the shallow region is self-evident.

Listed below are various examples and techniques for depositing the aluminum alloy film of this invention.

EXAMPLE 1 One example is to deposit, such as by evaporation or sputtering techniques, a layer of aluminum followed by depositing a film of aluminum and aluminum oxide, which can be achieved using the oxygen leaking technique described above during an aluminum deposition process, and followed by depositing a layer of copper. If desired, a further layer of aluminum and aluminum oxide can be deposited following the copper deposition. In this example, the initial layer of aluminum serves to provide a good ohmic contact to a silicon semiconductor device and the final layer of aluminum and aluminum oxide permits fine line etching of the alloy. Sintering or other heat treatment steps can be employed, if desired, in forming the alloy.

EXAMPLE 2 In a second example, a first layer of aluminum and aluminum oxide is deposited which can be done by the oxygen leaking technique or by RF sputtering the aluminum-aluminum oxide alloy. Subsequently, copper is deposited onto the first layer. If desired, a third layer containing aluminum and aluminum oxide is deposited onto the copper layer. Here again, heat treatments can be employed in forming the alloy.

EXAMPLE 3 In a third example, aluminum is deposited, followed by copper, and then followed by aluminum plus aluminum oxide. If desired, aluminum and copper can be deposited by co-evaporation technique followed by aluminum plus aluminum oxide. Alternatively, oxygen can be leaked into the system during the co-deposition operation. Another method is to evaporate or deposit an alloy of aluminum and copper while leaking oxygen into the deposition system.

EXAMPLE 4 In a fourth example, aluminum is deposited-oxygen is leaked into the deposition system--followed by a copper deposition operation. If desired, a sandwich type of layer deposition can be achieved by a subsequent aluminum deposition.

EXAMPLE 5 In a fifth example, aluminum oxide is first deposited, followed by the deposition of copper, and then followed by aluminum. The percentages of the resulting alloy are determined by the amount of each element or compound. If desired, oxygen can be added during the aluminum deposition step.

EXAMPLE 6 In a sixth example, aluminum oxide is co-deposited with copper such as by co-evaporation of aluminum oxide from one boat and copper from another boat. If desired, a layer of aluminum or aluminum oxide is deposited on the initially deposited layer.

The deposited alloy contains from about 0.01 to about 17% A1 0 about 0.1 to about 10% Cu, and the re mainder aluminum. Preferably, an alloy. having from about 2 to about 8% A1 0 about 2 to about 8% Cu, and the remainder aluminum provides good resistance to electromigration while achieving the other advantages described above. In some applications, an alloy having about 4% A1 4% Cu and the remainder aluminum should provide optimum electromigration resistance under most conditions.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Referring to FIG. 1, reference numeral refers generally to a transistor device located within an integrated semiconductor structure. The transistor device 10 contains an emitter region 12, a base region 14, and a collector region 16. While the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is that of an NPN transistor device wherein the emitter and collector regions are of N-type conductivity, and the base region is of P-type conductivity, it is obvious that a PNP transistor device can also be used in accordance with the teachings of this invention.

In the fabrication of the NPN transistor device shown in FIG. 1, a starting substrate 18 of P type conductivity is used to start the semiconductor process. The P- type substrate is fabricated by the usual crystal growing (using Boron doping) and crystal rod slicing techniques. The N-type (or collector) region 16 is deposited on the P type substrate 18 by epitaxial techniques. However, the N-type region 16 is deposited after the formation of N+ subcollector region 20 which is performed by, for example, an arsenic diffusion operation through a photolithographically masked and etched out opening in an oxide or insulating film located on the P type substrate 18.

Subsequent to the N-type epitaxial deposition step, a P+ diffusion operation (using Boron impurities) is carried out (after appropriate photolithographic masking operations) to form the surrounding isolation region 22 which isolates individual pockets of N-type regions 16. This individual N-type pocket region subsequently is used as the collector region 16 of the transistor device 10. After the isolation operation, the base region 14 is formed by diffusion (using Boron impurities) into the N-type region 16 using conventional photolithographic masking and etching techniques to form an opening in the oxide region above where the diffusion is to take place. In the same manner, the N+ emitter region 12 is formed (using phosphorous impurities) within the base region 14 and, at the same time, N+ region 24 is formed within collector region 16-so as to provide an improved electrical contact region for the collector region 16. Insulator layer 26 shown in contact with the semiconductor surface is preferably of thermally or otherwise deposited silicon dioxide but also can be comprised of the following insulators or combinations thereof: silicon nitride, aluminum oxide, etc.

A conductive thin film stripe 28 composed of aluminumaluminum oxide-copper (deposited according to any of the processes described above) carries current to the emitter region 12 from a terminal generally noted by reference numeral 30. The stripe 28 makes electrical contact to the emitter region 12 from a terminal generally noted by reference numeral 30. The stripe 28 makes electrical contact to the emitter region 12 through an opening located in the insulator layer 26. Similarly, the same alloy ma terial provides electrical ohmic contacts to the base region 14 and to the N+ collector region 24 by means of the aluminum-aluminum oxide-copper stripes 30 and 32, respectively. A second insulator layer 34 serves as an encapsulant to cover and protect the surface of the semiconductor device including the metal conductors located thereon. Preferably the insulator layer 34 is an RF sputtered quartz layer that is deposited onto the surface of the structure shown in FIG. 1.

The terminal contact 3 is fabricated by etching, using photolithographic etching and masking techniques, an opening in the insulator film 34 over the portion of the conductive stripe 24 where contact is to be made. Obviously, the terminal contact can be made to the base or collector stripe, if desired. If needed, RF sputter etching techniques can also be used to open up or clean out the hole in the insulator layer 34. After the terminal opening is formed, successive evaporations are carried out with chrome, copper and gold using suitable masks, preferably of apertured molybdenum, Hence, chrome layer 36, copper layer 38, and gold layer 40 in the manner shown in FIG. 1 is deposited into the opening in the insulating layer 34. Following the chrome, copper and gold deposition process, which is carried out by vacuum evaporation techniques, a lead/tin pad 42 is deposited onto the region of the structure shown in FIG. 1 located over the chrome, copper, gold deposited layers. The lead/tin pad 42 is preferably composed of lead, 5% tin and is deposited onto the desired region by means of evaporation techniques using a suitable apertured molybdenum mask.

Accordingly, the transistor device 10 with its aluminumaluminum oxide-copper alloy strips 28, 30 and 32 is capable of having a much greater lifetime and hence is significantly more reliable than transistor devices made with conventional aluminum stripes.

Referring to FIG. 2, a passive devices is shown which is formed within a monolithic integrated structure. The passive device of FIG. 2 is a resistor generally designated by reference numeral 50. Similar reference numerals are used in FIG. 2 to denote similar regions so as to indicate that the resistor device of FIG. 2 is preferably formed in a monolithic structure along with the active or transistor device of FIG. 1. In this embodiment the N-type region 16 serves as an isolation region for the P-type region 14 which now serves as the semiconductor region of the resistor device 50. The region 14 and the regions 16, 22 and 18 are formed in the same manner as described above with regard to the transistor device 10. Accordingly, the P-type region 14 is formed during the base diffusion operation. Contacts 52 and 54 at spaced portions of the P-type region 14 provide electrical contact to the semiconductor P-type region 14 thereby providing an electrical resistance using the P-type region 14 as a resistor. As indicated above with reference to FIG. 1, if desired, an N-type resistor region can be utilized instead of a P-type region either by selecting opposite dopants to form opposite regions of conductivity or by making electrical contact to the N-type region 16 for that type of resistor if desired. Similarly, while a passive device is shown in FIG. 2 as being a resistor device, it is evident that semiconductor capacitors or inductors can also be used. The stripe contacts 52 and 54 are made of the aluminum-aluminum oxide-copper alloy of this invention which greatly increases the lifetime of the resistor device 50. If desired, as in FIG. 1, a protective glass layer (not shown) can be deposited on metallized surface of the resistor 50.

Referring to FIG. 3 a field effect transistor device is shown as generally designated by reference numeral 60. The field effect device 60 is shown as a normally ofi. N- channel device. It should be evident that a P-channel device (having P-type source and drain regions) can also be used in accordance with this invention. The N-channel field transistor device 60 is comprised of two N-+ regions 62 and 64 located within a P- type substrate 66. Using conventional diffusion techniques, the N+ regions 62 and 64 are formed in a single diffusion step onto spaced surface regions of the P- type substrate 66. An insulator film 68 is located on a surface of the P type region 66. The insulator layer68 is preferably composed of silicon dioxide or combinations of silicon dioxide, aluminum oxide or silicon nitride. Contacts or stripes 70 and 72 are respectively provided to N-lregions 62 and 64 so as to provide electrical contact thereto. Contact 70 serves as a source contact and contact 72 serves as a drain contact. A thin metal stripe or layer 74 serves as a gate electrode so as to create, upon the application of a voltage thereto, the channel between the N-lregions 62 and 64 of the FET device. The source contact 70, the drain contact 72 and gate electrode 74 are composed of the aluminumaluminum oxide-copper alloy of this invention and thus provide the FET device 60 with a much greater lifetime and reliability. While the FET device 60 is shown in FIG. 3 to be a MOS (Metal Oxide Silicon) type device, it is obvious that the practice of this invention can be performed with FET devices that do not use a gate oxide.

The thin film conductive stripe or electrical contacts shown in FIG. 1, 2 or 3 can have a stripe width in the range of from about 0.1 mils to about 2 mils. For most preferred device applications, the stripe width is in the range of from about 0.2 to 0.4 mils. For most preferred device applications, the stripe Width is in the range of from about 0.2 to 0.4 mils. The stripe thickness (on the insulating layer) is in the range of from about several hundred Angstroms to about 20,000 Angstroms. Preferably, the stripe thickness is in the range of from about 5,000 Angstroms to about 15,000 Angstroms. Because of the improved electromigration properties of the alumihum-aluminum oxide-copper thin film conductive stripe, narrower and thinner stripes can be formed for semiconductor device use. This permits greater device density because of the use of reduced stripe dimensions thereby permitting significant improvement in circuit density in a monolithic integrated semiconductor substrate or chip. Furthermore, for multilevel integrated circuit structures where use is made of alternate layers of metal and insulator, the thin film conductive stripe alloy of this invention permits very significant advanatges and performance improvement.

While transistors and PET devices are shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, it is readily apparent to those skilled in the art that other active devices such as diodes, PNPN and NPNP, etc. devices can be fabricated in accordance with the techniques of this invention and are included with the scope of the attached claims.

While aluminum oxide is one type of insoluble impurity in aluminum that provides improvements in electromigration, other impurities insoluble in aluminum which provide increased stripe and device lifetime can also be used and hence, the claims of this invention are intended to cover these other impurities. Still further, while aluminum oxide dramatically increases the activation energy of the aluminum alloy to levels of at least about 0.93 electron volts, the claims of this invention are intended to cover the use of other impurities with aluminum and copper which would also cause both increase in the activation energy of the alloy as well as increase the stripe and device lifetime.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments there of, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. An electrical conductor comprising an electrically conductive aluminum alloy having a high resistance to electromigration, said aluminum alloy being composed of aluminum, aluminum-oxide and copper wherein said aluminum oxide is in the range of from about 2 percent to about 8 percent of said aluminum alloy, said copper is in the range of from about 2 percent to about 8 percent of said aluminum alloy with the remainder being aluminum.

2. An electrical conductor in accordance with claim 1 wherein said aluminum oxide is about 4 percent of said aluminum alloy, said copper is about 4 percent of said aluminum alloy.

3. A thin film conductive stripe located on a substrate, comprising an electrically conductive aluminum alloy having a high resistance to electromigration, said aluminum alloy being composed of aluminum, aluminum oxide and copper wherein said aluminum oxide is in the range of from about 2 percent to about 8 percent of said aluminum alloy, said copper is in the range of from about 2 percent to about 8 percent of said aluminum alloy with the remainder being aluminum.

4. A thin film conductive stripe in accordance with claim 3 wherein said aluminum oxide is about 4 percent of said aluminum alloy, said copper is about 4 percent of said aluminum alloy.

5. A thin film conductive stripe in accordance with claim 3 wherein said alloy has an activation energy of at least 0.93 electron volts.

6. A thin film conductive stripe in accordance with claim 3 wherein said stripe has a width in the range of from about 0.1 mils to about 2 mils.

7. A thin film conductive stripe in accordance with claim 6 wherein said stripe has a width in the range of from about 0.2 mils to about 0.4 mils.

8. A thin film conductive stripe in accordance with claim 3 wherein said stripe has a thickness in the range of from about several hundred Angstroms to about 20,000 Angstroms. I

9. A thin film conductive stripe in accordance with claim 8 wherein said stripe has a thickness in the range of from about 5,000 Angstroms to about 15,000 Angstroms.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,554,739 1/1971 Blckerdike et al. -138 3,492,119 1/1970 Rosenberg: 75-139 3,600,163 8/1971 Badia et a1 75-138 RICHARD O. DEAN, Primary Examiner U.S. C1. X.R. 75-139 

